Register +

In November, rebuildingsociety was invited to speak on the subject of Alternative Finance at the National Federation of Builders’ (NFB) Principal Contractors Group Annual Conference in London. This was an event attended by senior figures from the property and construction industry, hosted by well known journalist Cathy Newman, the Channel 4 news presenter. Speakers included the NFB’s Chief Executive Richard Beresford and Lord Kerslake, the former head of the Civil Service. Speakers noted two key problems in the UK building sector:

• A shortfall in housebuilding (the UK needs to build 200-250k+ houses every year, but in 2014 only 155k were built, and since 1988 there has only been one year in which over 200k were built
• A shortage of skills in the industry to help address the need to build more houses

Industry leaders agreed there is a requirement for the construction industry to bring together the various parties included (developers, builder, local authorities, finance providers). The role of finance, and in particular alternative finance, was identified as a key factor in the future prosperity of the sector. Julian Wells, marketing director at rebuildingsociety, presented at the event and took part in a panel debate with senior representatives from Funding Circle and LendInvest. During this session the increasing influence of alternative finance was highlighted by some of the statistics around the exponential growth of the industry. Julian told delegates that in 2013, commentators had predicted that by 2016 the sector could reach £1 billion of lending. Today there has already been in excess of £5 billion lent, with market leader Zopa advancing more than £1 billion on its own. Within the next 10 years alternative finance has been forecast to account for 20-30% of consumer lending, and over 40% of commercial lending. The audience highlighted the positive impact of FCA regulation as well as the recent endorsements the sector has received from the government. City Minister Harriet Baldwin called it a “brilliantly innovative new form of finance – which we want to see continue to grow and evolve.” rebuildingsociety has lent to a number of property and construction related businesses including GRA Project Management, Willowtree Properties, DDL Civils, MCC Building Services, Insul-Eight, Able Contractors, CJ Homes, Millbak, EW Becker, and Plumbserve.